The Ten Faces of Innovation: IDEO's Strategies for Defeating the Devil's Advocate and Driving Creativity Throughout Your Organization [Kindle Edition]

The Ten Faces of Innovation will remind many people of earlier works that favor mental diversity such as de Bono's Six Thinking Hats and von Oeck's A Kick in the Seat of the Pants.

What's different about The Ten Faces of Innovation is that it has many examples built around the experiences of one organization, the product design firm IDEO. Mr. Kelley is the general manager of that organization which makes this book into both an insider memoir and a sales brochure. So think of this book as being both a thesis and a case history. Multiple examples from one organization in group creativity and innovation have been hard to find in the business literature.

Like most case histories, this one is full of fun stories and occasional examples that may be new to you.

But you soon get the idea that innovation is all about understanding the market, observation as people use offerings and try to solve problems, brainstorming alternatives, rapid prototyping and quick experimentation -- Themes that are developed in more detail in Mr. Kelley's earlier book, The Art of Innovation.

The ten faces are anthropologist (see what's been going on), experimenter (try something new), cross-pollinator (attach two things together for the first time), hurdler (get past stalls), collaborator (bring people together to cooperate), director (set the action into a coherent whole), experience architect (make it Wow!), set designer (facilitate interaction through the environment), caregiver (nurture those involved) and the story teller (who gets the nub of the truth across in a few words -- with plenty of reference to Stephen Denning's, The Leader's Guide to Storytelling -- a fine book).

In the end, Mr. Kelley points out that not every team will have all ten faces, that some people can put on more than one face and you sometimes just have to do the best you can. Some of these roles are creative while others are more into integration or execution. That part of the taxonomy wasn't as well developed. The book would have been stronger if that line of thought had been spelled out more in the various situations that arise.

By the end, I found myself a little bored and a little disappointed. While Mr. Kelley knows a lot about his own organization and its projects for famous clients, he's on less firm ground when he writes about others . . . often relying on books rather than interviews. I was particularly struck that he entirely missed mentioning P&G's new approach to developing new products through contests among world experts. That method seemingly makes a lot of what Mr. Kelley is saying obsolete. Perhaps it is still relevant if you cannot afford to run such global contests. But most organizations can based on the Goldcorp Challenge model.

You will probably gain more benefit from reading The Art of Innovation than this one. I also recommend Corporate Creativity as a better source of case studies for how companies have accomplished more through their own creative efforts and of course, Professor Amabile's many wonderful studies.

Dadurch, dass Innovationen nicht durch die übliche Innovationsmanagement-Brille und als System betrachtet werden, sondern als von Individuen getriebene Aktionen, ist das Buch sehr innovativ. Der Autor unterscheidet 10 unterschiedliche Innovationstypen (z.B. Direktor) und versucht sie zu charakterisieren, den Umgang im Team zu optimieren und gibt Tipps zur Steigerung der Kreativität.
Das ist alles gut beschrieben, gut belegt und mag tatsächlich bei der Arbeit in kreativen Teams helfen. Als Nachteil empfinde ich lediglich dieses Schubladendenken. Menschen entwickeln sich, aber sind sie erst einmal abgestempelt, haben sie es umso schwerer, sich neu zu orientieren und auch kreativ zu sein.
Dennoch sehr lesenswert und mit Bedacht angewendet sicher sehr hilfreich für die Arbeit in heterogenen, kreativen Teams!

as my consultancy focusses on strategies for differenciation and value creation, I passionately recommend this book.
tom says: "ten faces of innovation is about how people and teams put into practice methods and techniques that infuse an enterprise with an continuous spirit of creative evolution."

thinking about those ten faces, you will understand that you desperately need them in your company or your team. rather than merely "doing innovation", this book is about "being innovation".

inhale the book because: "when the team's creative engine is running on top speed, the momentum and synergy can keep a company ahead through bad times and good."